Multiclient and Special Studies 

In 2005, iGR launched and completed several multiclient studies to measure, define, analyze and forecast the opportunity in key wireless industry topics: Tweens; WiFi, WiMAX, EV-DO Adoption; and RIM BlackBerry User Profile.




Tweens

In the U.S. alone, there is a considerable opportunity for mobile operators and service providers to sell wireless products and services to the "tween" market. For example, of the 26 million tweens in 2009, iGR forecasts that 4 million will be using their own phones. But of the 11.44 million 10-12 year olds in 2009, 3.57 million will have cell phones.

In the higher income families, penetration will be higher. In 2006, 1.6 million of the 8 million 11-12 year olds will have cell phones. The goal of this multiclient study was to determine the need, desire and receptivity toward wireless services targeted at the tween market. To concretize these drivers, iGR devised a survey and resultant analysis and forecasts that would address the following areas:

  • Consumer profile by age, race, income, education, age of children, etc.
  • Current use of wireless devices and services by the parent and tween
  • Current use of mobile data service including ringtones, messaging, gaming, web access, etc., by the parent and tween
  • Current barriers preventing the adoption and use of wireless services by tweens
  • Potential of the tween wireless applications market, including but not limited to messaging, gaming, music, photos and other data services
  • Interest in various handset designs, as well as requirements for a tween-specific device
  • Parental concerns for tweens using mobile devices including school rules, safety, applications, SPAM, etc.
  • Forecasted size of the opportunity for tween services, applications and devices - this will include music, games, photos, graphics, ring tones and messaging
  • Types of devices required for tweens with forecasts split by network technology, form factor, price and other considerations
  • Revenues associated with each type of service.




WiFi, WiMAX, EV-DO

In May 2005, iGR launched a multiclient study to determine the degree of business adoption of data WWANs. Some of the unanswered questions driving this report included:
  • Will enterprises prefer WiFi services to EV-DO and what must the mobile operators do to increase the adoption of EV-DO
  • What will be the level of usage of WiFi services once the EV-Do networks are deployed?
  • Will enterprises prefer EV-DO over WiFi services and how will their WiFi use be impacted with the adoption of EV-DO?
  • What will be the level of usage of EV-DO once the networks are deployed?
  • What must the WiFi service providers do to combat the impact of EV-DO?
  • How will the WiMax "wild card" affect uptake of EV-DO? How will WiMax affect ongoing usage of WiFi?

The goal of the report was to determine the critical success factors driving the adoption of the various types of broadband wireless network. To determine this, iGR devised a study that would:

  • Determine the current level of use of WiFi services and EV-DO networks in the large enterprise, including splits by vertical industry and occupation
  • Identify the critical success factors for paid WiFi and EV-DO services once EV-DO is available nationwide
  • Determine the impact EV-DO will have on WiFi services
  • Determine how the use of WiFi services may slow the adoption of EV-DO in the large enterprise
  • Provide an overview of how WiFi services and EV-DO services are used within the organization
  • Determine how WiFi usage will change with the nationwide availability of EV-DO and, eventually, WiMax
  • Determine the critical success factors surrounding the deployment and uptake of WiMax
  • Determine the relative value and pricing for WiFi, EV-DO and WiMax services and what price points each service needs to adopt to be successful
  • Recommend to enterprise device OEMs (laptop OEMs, PDA OEMs, smartphone OEMs) if and when to incorporate embedded EV-DO and/or WiMax capabilities
  • Determine the decision and purchase criteria used to determine WiFi and EV-DO service choices. Assess relevance of these criteria to adoption of WiMax services



RIM BlackBerry User Loyalty Study

There is little doubt that Research in Motion (RIM) has enjoyed considerable success with the push-email experience the company delivers across a wide range of its BlackBerry devices and back-end server platform. In early 2005, RIM announced that the email service using its technology had more than three million users, and although the majority of those users are in North America (and on one network), penetration is increasing in overseas markets.

Things are not completely rosy for RIM, however, given the recent, well-publicized service failures, other device OEMs launching competing designs, mobile email vendors signing agreements with RIM's carrier customers, and the company's ongoing legal dispute with NTP.

To better understand these and other factors at work, iGR conducted a study in the fall of 2005 to clearly define the profile of the BlackBerry user and identify how loyal they truly are to the device, platform and service. Specifically, this targeted study:
  • Profiled the BlackBerry users, including occupation, income, gender, race, other devices used, age, etc.
  • Determined the current loyalty of BlackBerry users to their devices, email service and mobile operator
  • Determined how many BlackBerry devices the typical user has had, why they changed, what they paid for their devices and how long they plan to keep them
  • Determined where the typical BlackBerry user obtains their device - from their employer, personal purchase, etc.
  • Determined the BlackBerry user's awareness of competing devices (such as the Treo), perceptions of those devices and perceived strengths and weaknesses of the BlackBerry device (including the 7100)
  • Determined the BlackBerry user's willingness to switch to a competing device, when shown images and descriptions of newer designs, such as the Motorola Q, and the critical success factors for newer designs
  • Determined the applications desired by the BlackBerry user that the device is currently unable to support
  • Determined the critical success factors for churning the BlackBerry user to a competing mobile email service.



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